I’m in a bit of a philosophic mood these days. And when I am, I tend to revisit the idea that perception is an important philosophical phenomenon. Also I’ve been attending multiple lectures on decision making and action/perception links. Put that and my writing push together and you get..

Well.. drivel mostly.

An excerpt from my convoluted brainwaves:

Decisions are guided by perception.

On a very basic level the decision of when to cross a road is guided by whether we see any cars coming and if so, how fast these cars are driving. The reflection of radiation (light) on the car onto the retina and the interpretation of the shape as ‘car’, together with an estimation of distance (depth) by integration of information coming from both our eyes over time, are mayor influences on the decision of whether or not to cross the street.

But what is perception? What is a percept? What makes that radiation of a certain wavelength falling on the retina into a perception of color? Is an ice cube against your skin cold if you do not have noci- or temperature-conveying receptors? It is the integration of this information by the brain that makes the exposure to a stimulus into a percept.

And then some more blah blah on how important perception is. Yes, people I have finally gone bonkers..